Parties to the conflict have exacerbated what the UN has called the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe, including by unlawfully impeding delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid.

The armed conflict has taken a terrible toll on the civilian population. The coalition has conducted scores of indiscriminate and disproportionate airstrikes killing thousands of civilians and hitting civilian objects in violation of the laws of war, using munitions sold by the United States, United Kingdom, and others, including widely banned cluster munitions. Houthi forces have used banned antipersonnel landmines, recruited children, and fired artillery indiscriminately into cities such as Taizz and Aden, killing and wounding civilians, and launched indiscriminate rockets into Saudi Arabia.

Both sides have harassed, threatened, and attacked Yemeni activists and journalists. Houthi forces, government-affiliated forces, and the UAE and UAE-backed Yemeni forces have arbitrarily detained or forcibly disappeared scores. Houthi forces have taken hostages. Forces in Aden beat, raped, and tortured detained migrants.

Despite mounting evidence of violations of international law by the parties to the conflict, efforts toward accountability have been woefully inadequate.

Unlawful Airstrikes

Since 2015, Human Rights Watch has documented about 90 apparently unlawful coalition airstrikes, which have hit homes, markets, hospitals, schools, and mosques. Some of these attacks may amount to war crimes. In 2018, the coalition bombed a wedding, killing 22 people, including 8 children, and in another strike bombed a bus filled with children, killing at least 26 children. Human Rights Watch has identified remnants of US-origin munitions at the site of more than two dozen attacks, including the 2018 attacks on the wedding and the bus.

Indiscriminate Artillery Attacks

Houthi forces have repeatedly fired artillery indiscriminately into Yemeni cities and launched indiscriminate ballistic missiles into Saudi Arabia. Some of these attacks may amount to war crimes. Houthi attacks have struck populated neighborhoods in Yemen, having a particularly devastating impact on Taizz, Yemen’s third largest city.

Banned Weapons

Landmines have killed and maimed civilians, disrupted civilian life in affected areas, and will pose a threat to civilians long after the conflict ends. Houthi forces have used landmines in governorates across Yemen, killing and wounding civilians and preventing their return home.

Attacks on Civil Society

One cost of Yemen’s war has been the closing of space for civil society. Yemeni activists, journalists, lawyers, and rights defenders worry about arrest, harassment, targeted violence, and joining the list of Yemen’s “disappeared.” The risk is greatest when the target of criticism is a party to the conflict, who often retaliate.

Blocking and Impeding Humanitarian Access

The UN considers Yemen to be the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with 14 million peopleat risk of starvation and repeated outbreaks of deadly diseases like cholera. This crisis is linked to the armed conflict.

Film by Oxfam: The people of Yemen are not starving. They are being starved

The start of a peace process in Yemen brings some hope for the future, but most Yemeni people are yet to see meaningful change. Your support is still needed to keep the world’s attention on Yemen. Find out more at http://po.st/YemenCantWait

cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important

One week in Yemen: Films by Doctors Without Borders, mostly in English, French subs

Une semaine au Yémen : lundi 1/7

Monday: Care for mothers and their children. "Last month, we had at least 10 children arriving dead in the hospital. Four in ten had clearly traveled for several days, "says Rachel Fletcher, coordinator of MSF Children's Hospital in Taiz. In Yemen, pregnant women are among the most vulnerable. On the verge of giving birth, they take long, risky journeys to reach health facilities that are still functioning.

Wednesday: War wounded and traumatized patients. Between March 2015 and October 2018, MSF treated more than 91,000 war-wounded because of the violence in the country. This number includes not only soldiers and combatants, but also wounded civilians near the front lines, in hospitals, markets and at home.

Saturday: Medical needs are too high. Ad Dhale government hospital was the only hospital to provide free medical care to Yemenis in the region. The needs are high, but after several security incidents, MSF took the difficult task of ending its support for this health facility. The lack of operational hospitals and medical staff exposes thousands of people to an increased risk of death and illness.

Sunday: "It's too far" It's not only difficult but also difficult for many Yemenis to access free health care. Most Yemenis travel long hours to access health care because facilities are limited in communities.

Between August and December 2018, #MSF’s teams in #Mocha admitted and treated more than 150 people wounded by #mines, improvised explosive devices and unexploded ordnance. One third of the patients were children who had been playing in fields. Disabled for life.

On January 7, United States Central Command (CENTCOM) published a press release titled “CENTCOM counterterrorism strikes in Yemen 2018 rollup,” providing data on the various counterterrorism strikes CENTCOM carried out in Yemen during 2018. The release, and CENTCOM’s reporting throughout the year in response to requests, represented an important step towards transparency compared to 2017. But it also revealed the extent to which even with better government reporting, the ability to understand the war the United States is waging in Yemen has deteriorated in recent years due to both U.S. policy and the character of the war itself.

Despite the overall improvement, in only five of the strikes this past year was date and location information available within CENTCOM’s quarterly press releases and end of year summary of strikes. CENTCOM provided the other information at request to New America and others tracking the war. Nevertheless, CENTCOM’s willingness to provide detailed information on the timing and location of strikes in response to requests helps clarify the U.S. campaign in Yemen.

The newfound transparency only goes so far. The 2018 press release does not address the question of how many ground raids the United States conducted over the past year.

More important, CENTCOM still does not release casualty assessments or counts disaggregated by strike in Yemen. This is in contrast to AFRICOM, which has in many cases reported not just strike locations and dates, but casualty counts with regards to strikes in Somalia – often immediately following the occurrence of strikes.

Who Flies over Yemen’s Skies?

Increased difficulty attributing drone strikes to a specific actor also clouds the picture. While in the past the United States was the only actor operating drones over Yemen (so attribution of strikes was relatively easy), that is no longer the case. According to Mohammed Ghobari, a Yemen correspondent for Reuters, “with the collapse of the central state in Yemen, the presence of UAE and Saudi forces in Yemen which also … contain drones, it is difficult for journalists to know exactly who conducted the strike.”

Indeed, the United States continues to conduct drone strikes in Yemen, but the U.S.-backed Saudi coalition has been conducting its own airstrikes with high civilian casualty rates. The United Arab Emirates, for example, has reportedly conducted drone strikes against Houthi forces. Even the Houthi rebels are operating armed drones over Yemen’s skies.

The challenge of determining responsibility for a strike is further compounded by the question of whether CENTCOM is the only part of the U.S. government conducting strikes or whether there are covert strikes taking place. At least in Syria, the Trump administration reportedly sought to expand the role of the CIA in drone strikes beyond limits imposed during the Obama administration.

This complex environment was illustrated by the CENTCOM press release summarizing strikes in 2018

High Stakes Demand Greater Transparency Going Forward

The Trump administration and CENTCOM should be lauded for better reporting this year that has meaningfully improved the tracking of the counterterrorism war in Yemen. Further improvements could be made, including reporting casualty assessments disaggregated by strike, reporting ground raids, and making individualized strike and ground raid information available through official press releases (rather than only in response to requests).

At least 1,300 people have been killed in the counterterrorism war in Yemen, according to New America’s research. That is almost certainly an undercount. The lack of transparency in this war prevents the American public from fully knowing the nature of what is being conducted in their name. With counterterrorism strikes occurring amidst a larger civil and proxy war, the stakes of this lack of transparency are high – by David Sterman

cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics

(* B H)

The swine flu symptoms usually develop within 1-3 days of becoming infected. Most people will feel better within a week. However, you may have a persistent cough and weakness for a further couple of weeks. These, too, are pretty much the same as seasonal flu. (image)

The head of a diplomatic mission tasked with monitoring a UN peace deal in Yemen will be replaced by a former Danish general.

In a letter sent to the Security Council, UN chief Antonio Guterres proposed that former Danish General Michael Lollesgaard take over the Dutch General Patrick Cammaert's mission in the port city of Hodeidah, according to Reuters.

The Security Council has 48 hours to accept or refuse General Lollesgaard candidacy, who led a UN peacekeeping mission in Mali in 2015 and 2016.

The United Nations has urged Yemen’s warring factions to immediately withdraw troops from the lifeline port of Hodeidah and save a vital truce, as rights groups warned aid was not getting through to thousands who could starve to death.

Meanwhile, Yemeni families displaced from Hodeidah said their relatives who have remained in the port city still live under fire, while they struggle to survive in poorly equipped IDP camps or makeshift homes in comparatively safer areas of the country.

“My relatives in Hodeidah tell me that they live amid terror and worry and they are expecting death at any moment,” said Ahmed Murshed, 44, who fled the Red Sea coast last June for Taiz. His family were forced to sell their belongings to fund the three-day journey through the mountains to the southwestern city.

He said he now relies on food, mattresses and blankets from Islamic Relief.

“I am dependent on organisations to help me eke out a living for 26 family members, some of them need medicines. There is not enough water in the house and we have to fetch it from far distances,” he added.

Abdu Muqbel, 65, and his family of seven also fled Hodeidah under fire to an IDP camp in Taiz after his wife was hit by shrapnel in her neck.

He said his family barely survived in the camp for two years until Islamic Relief recently came to help.

But despite the hardships they face in Taiz, Mr Muqbel said it is not possible to go back to Hodeidah because fighting is still plaguing the city and stopping access to food.

“I heard about the ceasefire but my relatives there told me that battles have started again, and they do not dare to sleep with the buzzing of warplanes over them day and night,” he said.

“My brothers and my cousins returned to their houses and they told me that life is very difficult. You need to travel 60km to bring food,” he added – by Bel Trew

"We're hopeful we can get access to the Red Sea Mills that have been cut off by fighting since September," the head of the UN's World Food Programme in Yemen, Stephen Anderson, tells me in an email.

There is said to be enough food here to feed almost 4 million Yemenis for a month in a country where three quarters of the population depends on humanitarian assistance.

After we left, a mortar believed to have been fired by Houthis struck this facility, sparking a fire which destroyed vital wheat stocks in two of its 10 silos.

"It's devastating for us, just devastating," laments Lise Grande, the UN's resident co-ordinator in Yemen, in an interview with the BBC in the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, 140km (87 miles) to the east. "It's not clear we can replace it."

Yemeni commanders also accuse the Houthis of sneaking in, under cover of darkness, to plant landmines and booby traps in this area.

Sudanese militiamen, recruited by the Saudi-led coalition, are currently carefully combing the fields with metal detectors.

Coalition forces accuse the Houthis of hundreds of ceasefire violations.

The Houthis accuse the army and coalition of massing forces on the southern edges of Hudaydah city, and along the west coast, readying for a new assault if this ceasefire collapses – by Lyse Doucet

Speaking from Hodeidah, Salem Baobaid, Islamic Relief’s head of office coordinator, said: “Until now, little has changed for ordinary people. After the months and months of bombing, shelling and starvation, it will take much more than a ceasefire to start breathing life into people who have been living on the edge of death for so long.

“Things are so bad that large groups of people have started living in squalid, toxic conditions on the edge of the city’s main, highly contaminated garbage dump – just so they can forage for scraps.”

He said members of his aid team had been killed by stray bullets and shelling was continuing.

Baobaid said he had recently met Faiza, an 11-month-old girl weighing 5kg who had to come into the centre with her mother. “She barely moved, and had wide opened eyes … She barely cried. Her face was so pale it scared me. She had very bad diarrhoea and her mother was so exhausted that she could not breastfeed her properly.

“When I first saw her, I thought she only had a few days left in this world. Luckily, we were able to help her and she is now out of danger.” He said there were 400,000 other children in the same state.

In common with other aid workers, he said difficulties in getting permits to transport aid remained a huge problem with roadblocks every 20 minutes or so on the road between Hodeidah and Yemen’s capital, Sana’a.

Other aid workers said the conflict was shifting from Hodeida and areas previously outside the fighting were now being sucked into the battles.

The violations of the cease-fire continued in the province of Hodeidah by the US-Saudi aggression and its mercenaries on Sunday evening and Monday morning (January 28th).

The forces of aggression targeted in Sunday evening, Jan. 27th south and east of the city of Ad-drehami with heavy and medium-sized automatic weapons, mercenaries also targeted areas on 50th Street. The shelling lasted for about an hour. The mercenaries of the aggression bombed with more than 20 artillery shells at Al-Oudi company at kilo-16 at 2 am, also targeted the area with artillery and machine guns.

Spokesman of the Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Sare'e, said that US-Saudi Forces exploit the commitment of the Yemeni Forces to exercise restraint to save the ceasefire and not to respond to their continuous violations in Hodeidah. They continue to commit further crimes against citizens in a desperate attempts to evade their obligations under the Stockholm agreement. In the past 48 hours, the US-Saudi mercenaries committed 184 violations in Hodeidah.

He said in a statement to the Yemeni news agency Saba that the US-Saudi mercenaries targeted by 119 artillery shells, 4 missiles and 44 operations with various medium and heavy weapons residential neighborhoods, farms and Yemeni Army' sites in several districts. He explained that the fighter jets and reconnaissance drones continued to fly intensely over Hodiedah city and a number of districts.

He added that the violations of the aggression and his mercenaries are capable of obliging the head of the UN team to declare them as a party to the agreement and to hold them fully responsible for their failure to abide the Stockholm cease-fire in Hodeidah.

Yemeni Army monitored movements of trucks carrying supplies of US-Saudi mercenaries and a bulldozer making fortifications.

Report: 745 Houthi violations of the ceasefire agreement in Hodeidah resulted in the death of 51 civilians

The Houthis have committed 745 violations of the UN-sponsored ceasefire agreement between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, which entered into force on Dec. 18th, in the western city of Hodeidah, according to a government report on Saturday.

The monitoring report of the government forces, quoted by the state news agency Saba, said the violations resulted in the deaths of 51 civilians and the wounding of 370 others, some of them critically injured.

My comment: Remembering all detailed news, this figure of victims seems to include all those who had been killed by anti-Houthi militia (“government forces” in anti-Houthi-media wording) as well.

(A K pH)

Despite Ceasefire, Woman Shot by US-Saudi Mercenaries in Hodeidah

A woman was moderately injured, on Saturday, night after being shot by US-Saudi mercenaries in the July 7th area in Al-Hodeidah district. Also, a citizen was shot by invaders and mercenaries in his ranch in the Dar Haroun area of At-tohaita district.

The mercenaries targeted with artillery and machine guns scattered areas of the July 7th residential area and the airport area. Also, they targeted with heavy artillery shelling scattered areas in the Kilo-16 area.

The airspace of the city and a number of southern Directorates witnessed extensive flying of fighter jets and espionage drones.

The Red Sea Mills, one of the last positions seized by Saudi and Emirati-backed forces before last month's UN-brokered truce, holds wheat that could feed nearly four million people for a month in a country on the brink of famine.

But the facility, a shrapnel-pocked symbol of how controlling food is a weapon in Yemen's war, has remained off-limits to aid organisations since September as skirmishes shake the fragile ceasefire agreed with Huthi rebels during talks in Sweden.

The site, on Hodeida's eastern edges, was rigged heavily with mines when it slipped from Huthi control in November.

Last week, during a military embed organised by the Saudi-led coalition, AFP saw government loyalists including Sudanese mercenaries scouring the vast complex with metal detectors amid fears rebels were sneaking in to plant new booby traps.

"If it is allowed to break down, there will be no opportunity for a similar deal for a long time," the International Crisis Group said.

Inside Hodeida, a city rippling with tension as the war-wounded continue to trickle into hospitals, a common refrain among civilians and military officials is "mafi hudna" -- Arabic for "no truce".

But the truce has given the World Food Programme "some breathing room" to reach districts in southern Hodeida that were previously inaccessible due to fighting, its country director Stephen Anderson told AFP.

"We have been trying to get access... (But I hear) the Huthis aren't allowing us to get to the mill," WFP chief David Beasley said in an interview in Davos.

"So it is four steps forward, two steps back, but I am still cautiously optimistic."

The lack of access to the mill, one of the most hotly contested sites in Hodeida, is a collective punishment for starving Yemenis on both sides of the conflict.

"The Red Sea Mills is a leverage point being used in the most Machiavellian ways by all warring parties to achieve political goals," said Wesam Qaid, executive director of Yemeni development organisation SMEPS.

"Whoever controls such facilities will have greater say on who gets fed. Food is a weapon." – by Anuj Chopra, AFP (with photos)

The Dutch retired general Patrick Cammaert is back to resume his mission as head of #UN monitoring team over the ceasefire agreement in #Hodeidah. He is currently discussing methods with the Gov representatives to implement #Stockholm deal (photos)

The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

This is the crazy thing about this war and so many wars. The people just want peace. The leaders want war but instead of killing each other they pay poor people to kill other poor people whilst they get richer and richer on the war economy. And then because none of the many 'sides' that emerge can demonstrate victory they think it is better politically to keep on fighting rather than lose face and the poor get poorer and suffering gets worse but because the rich benefit from war they can't stop. How can we ever stop this state of affairs as long as weapons companies make such nasty weapons and such a vast profit out of the suffering of the poor?

Since 2015, many observers have repeatedly denounced global ignorance towards the war in Yemen, often labeling it the “world’s worst hidden conflict”. Yet, the general public and mass media in western countries have increasingly become aware of the situation and of the military deadlock up to the point it would now be wrong to continue asserting this war is happening behind closed doors. Information exists and is widely available. However, what probably remains hidden or silenced are Yemeni voices. These have a tendency to be either ignored or to see their claims confiscated by so‑called western experts. Willingly or not, they have been largely deprived of access to the public space and to debate on “their” war. Hence the frequent claim made that “there are no journalists in Yemen”, actually meaning no Western ones! In the Arab media, the financial control of the Gulf states responsible for the bombing of the country itself has generated further biases and has often deprived Yemenis of their subjectivity.

Thus Franck Mermier’s editorial project to translate Arabic texts published by Yemeni intellectuals into French is a most opportune contribution.

This Yemen focused‑publication helps correct a manifest injustice. “It seems we are not part of the world,” writes journalist Jamal Jubran in a beautiful text made available here to the French speaking public. Beyond Franck Mermier's ambition to “break the halo of aloofness” and “to destroy the wall of indifference that surrounds Yemen”, the book project also needed to account for the complexity of what is unfolding in the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. It was in particular important to highlight the variety of positions and analyzes. Indeed, in Yemen perhaps more than elsewhere, society and the intellectual field remain fragmented to the extreme. Between supporters of the Houthi militia, Southern activists, socialists, liberals, Islamist and feminist voices, the narratives that can be delivered are frequently antagonistic. Franck Mermier's in‑depth knowledge of the Yemeni terrain and of the intellectual field in the country have helped him cherry‑pick fourteen texts written by eight writers or journalists, half of whom are women.

While the ambition of the publication deserves the highest praises, the selection made by Franck Mermier may well leave specialists of Yemeni contemporary society and politics a little uneasy.

However, this approach unintentionally obscures a significant part of Yemeni society. The contributions certainly break the silence or surpass the “international ostracism” described by Habib Abdulrab Sarori in his chapter, but at the same time generate some misunderstandings about the reality of internal power relations in Yemen or the interpretations of the roots of the war – by Laurent Bonnefoy

The influence of Yemen and its people extends far beyond its nominal borders, both historically and in the present day, as Laurent Bonnefoy reveals.

Contemporary Yemen has an image problem. It has long fascinated travellers and artists, and to many embodies both Arab and Muslim authenticity; it stands at important geostrategic and commercial crossroads. Yet, strangely, global perceptions of Yemen are of an entity that is somehow both marginal and passive, yet also dangerous and problematic.

The Saudi offensive launched in 2015 has made Yemen a victim of regional power struggles, while the global ‘war on terror’ has labelled it a threat to international security. This perception has had disastrous effects without generating real interest in the country or its people. On the contrary, Yemen’s complex political dynamics have been largely ignored by international observers—resulting in problematic, if not counterproductive, international policies.

Yemen and the World offers a corrective to these misconceptions and omissions, putting aside the nature of the world’s interest in Yemen to focus on Yemen’s role on the global stage. Laurent Bonnefoy uses six areas of modern international exchange—globalisation, diplomacy, trade, migration, culture and militant Islamism—to restore Yemen to its place at the heart of contemporary affairs. To understand Yemen, he argues, is to understand the Middle East as a whole.

The United Nations is looking to adopt another approach to bring the Yemen crisis to an end after a number of failed attempts in 2018.

Now, the UN seems to be taking a different path and adopting another approach. One of these approaches is the recent approval of the 75-strong monitoring team.

Relying on the same diplomatic techniques has led the UN nowhere and Yemen remains languishing in war, bloodshed and violence. Accordingly, the ongoing presence of the UN supervisors in Hodeida is synonymous with direct and serious involvement.

Although these UN monitors are said to be unarmed, their presence could set the stage for larger involvement in the future.

The UN's magnifying role in Yemen could be a double-edged sword. It could coerce the warring parties to de-escalate, respect the peace talks and forge a solution; this is a positive role. On the other hand, it may continue adopting partial measures to defuse the conflict areas of the country only, and this means the war will persist and the solutions for the deep-rooted political crisis will be unattained.

Prioritising aid delivery or peace progress?

The prime concern of the UN is the provision of aid to the people of Yemen. This is not enough. The same level of concern should be given to the political issues. Should Yemen's political crisis receive insufficient attention from the international community, this year will be also bloody, catastrophic and miserable for millions of Yemenis.

Yemen does not solely cry out for food. It is also in dire need of ending the destructive war and raging violence in several parts of the country. The feed-them-and-let-them-fight policy in Yemen needs to be stopped because this will only fan the flames of war.

New year escalation

Amid such violent developments at the outset of the year, hope appears faint that the two parties will reach a consensus on peace in the country. While the peaceful solution is still an option, it is also possible that the government forces will this year attempt vast military advances against the Houthis to dictate a new status quo in post-war Yemen.

Charities have come together to collectively urge Yemen’s factions to put the interests of the struggling population first in “the worst humanitarian crisis in the world”.

The sliver of hope emanating over the ceasefire agreed last month at the crucial port of Hodeidah was largely not felt by the “scared” and “desperate” Yemeni people, a press conference heard. Despite the supposed cessation of hostilities, aid and commercial goods still “are not yet flowing in at the level needed to address the unfolding crisis”, an open letter signed by 14 leading charities also said.

There have been multiple reports of the fighting in and around Hodeidah continuing with both the Houthi rebels and Yemeni government blaming each other. Isabelle Carlsen, operations director at Action Against Hunger, said in a recent two-day visit to the area she heard consistent instances of violence.

According to Ms Carlsen the nutrition situation “continues to be extremely serious and catastrophic with severe limitations on access to potable water and health treatment. She said over two million children are affected by malnutrition, a situation worsened by the destruction of water and medical facilities.

A fire last week exacerbated the already desperate situation by damaging two silos holding food in a tragic incident seemingly started by mortar fire on the outskirts of Hodeidah.

The letter by the charity chiefs said some parents had felt compelled to give their children contaminated food or water, or nothing at all. They also wrote of reports of the elderly having to sell clothes or homes just to get by.

Extreme difficulties facing humanitarian workers in gaining access include the dangers of conflict which often means long journeys over short distances because of the numerous checkpoints and necessary permits.

Awssan Kamal, head of campaigns at Oxfam International, said hunger was stigmatised in a social system where many victims “don’t want to talk about how hungry they are”. The audience also heard that food insecurity was not always linked to frontline conflict – the collapse of the economy and currency were also held responsible. Villages suffering from “acute” malnutrition would often only have bread and tea without milk to survive on.

"This is not a natural disaster. This is happening because of the war and all the different parties that are contributing to that fighting and we're asking everyone, all the leaders of all the different countries involved to put people first."

Hopes were raised in December 2018 when a ceasefire was agreed between the Iranian backed-Houthi forces and the Saudi coalition in the port of Hodeida.

But Deborah Hyams told Premier that this has not yet brought the relief that was hoped.

"Neither the Houthi forces, nor the Saudi coalition have withdrawn their troops and agreed on those troops' withdrawals and how to implement that."

Did you know due to the #Yemen conflict food importers pay around 200% #taxes due to dual tax regimes! Its crazy! That is why we call it a #man_made_famine! It really needs to stop and decisions needs to be made!

The 4th payment cycle of @UNICEF_Yemen's #EmergencyCashTransferProject has reached its 2nd week. More than 610,000 beneficiaries have collected their cash benefit. That already accounts to 38% of our target of 1.5 million beneficiaries.

Comment by Hisham Al-Omeisy: Cash assistance gives beneficiaries independence in making household decisions according to individually unique conditions. But on side note, donors also need to diversify portfolio thru which channeling funds (different banks) not to create monopoly over foreign currency.

Hostilities in Hajjah Governorate over the last three years have had a major humanitarian impact. In the last two months, escalated hostilities have killed tens of civilians and displaced hundreds of families from their homes especially in Haradh and Hayran districts.

Partners on the ground report that at least 300 families have been displaced in the last three weeks to Abs District where they live in difficult conditions.

Displacement is also reported from Bani Hassan village in Abs and Al Hamrah village in Mustaba District, due to proximity to areas of fighting.

The hostilities in Hajjah intensified in mid-December 2018, with armed confrontations and shelling in Haradh, mainly around the main town and in Abs and Hayran Districts.

Abs District already hosts an estimated 23,000 displaced families, most of whom have been displaced multiple times over the past four years, sometimes more, and are living in dire conditions. According to the Shelter Cluster, a total of 18,800 displaced families are living in 102 spontaneous settlements and collective centres in the district.

Hajjah is one of the governorates with the highest severity of needs in Yemen. The findings of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) released in December indicate that more than a million people, out of a total population of 2.5 million, are in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis). Out of 31 districts in the governorate, 28 are classified at IPC Phase 4 (Emergency); 5 have pockets of populations at IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe). Some 13 districts are among the 104 districts in Yemen that have the highest convergence of needs.

Despite access and security challenges, 55 humanitarian partners were active in all the 31 districts of the governorate as on November; 9 UN, 17 international and 29 national NGOs. That included implementing and programme partners. The highest concentration of partners are Abs and Hajjah city while the lowest numbers are in Shares, Al Jamimah, Midi and Bani Al Awam districts.

Civilian casualties have mounted

Over the last two months, the civilian toll has risen significantly. Between 5 and 10 January, at least 12 civilians were killed and another 12 injured by artillery shells and airstrikes, according to the Protection Cluster’s Civilian Impact Monitoring Project. Eight of these casualties were killed when artillery shells struck houses in Ash Shalilah village in Haradh District. This is the highest number of civilian casualties reported in a single incident in the governorate since August 2018.

The most serious needs are in Haradh District

In Haradh, the most affected district, hospitals and other public service providers have closed due to fighting.

Prior to the recent escalation, many families used to shuttle back and forth between their villages and neighbouring districts to receive humanitarian assistance, but movement has become more restricted.

Violence in the Hajjah Governorate in the last few months has killed dozens of civilians, displaced hundreds and led to the intensification of the humanitarian disaster in Yemen, according to a new report released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Afairs (OCHA).

Both the Houthis and forces aligned with the Yemeni government have exchanged control of the strategically important province since the civil war broke out. But recent clashes, despite the so-called ceasefire, have forced families to seek refuge in areas relatively safe from the violence.

Hajjah province has become a refuge to hundreds of families fleeing the violence along the Saudi-Yemeni border and from Hodeidah. But clashes in the province, which see several key supply routes cut through its mountainous terrain leading from the Red Sea Coast to Houthi-held Sanaa, has played host to violence spilling over from Hodeidah, the Red Sea port city held by the Houthi rebels.

The Hajoor tribe, a prominent tribe in north Yemen led by Salafi figure Sheikh Yahya Al Hajoori, have taken up the battle against the Houthis in the province – flaring tensions between the Sunni tribe and the Houthi rebels. Clashes between the Houthis and the Hajoor’s trail back to 2011, when clashes between the two tribes in Hajjah caused thousands of families in the province to flee.

Recent violence, the worst in the province since August 2018, has seen at least 30 civilians killed and another 52 injured by artillery shells and airstrikes in the last 30 days alone. Three children and two women were killed in the violence.

This has displaced at least 300 families displaced in the last three weeks to Abs District where they live in difficult conditions, many without proper care despite several UN organisations on the ground.

“Abs District already hosts an estimated 23,000 displaced families, most of whom have been displaced multiple times over the past four years, sometimes more, and are living in dire conditions,” said the OCHA report.

The hostilities in Hajjah intensified in mid-December 2018, with armed confrontations and shelling in Haradh, mainly around the main town and in Abs and Hayran Districts.

Hajjah is among the governorates with the highest severity of needs in Yemen. The findings of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) released in December indicate that more than a million people, out of a total population of 2.5 million, are in IPC Phase 3 – or living in crisis.

Of the 31 districts in the province, 28 are recognised as being in IPC Phase 4, a state of emergency, with five pockets of populations described by the UN as being catastrophic, or in need of immediate aid.

Dr. Makkiah Mahdi: Aslam district is not a focal point for the spread of malnutrition; all districts of Hajjah province suffer from the disease

Head of the health center at Al-Thalooth area in Aslam district of Hajjah province, Dr. Makkiah Mahdi affirmed that Aslam district is not the core point for the spread of malnutrition, adding that malnutrition spreads in all of Hajja province' districts.

During her meeting with Head of Yemen Organization for Relief and Development (Mona Relief), Fatik al-Rudaini on Friday, January 11 at the Aslam health center, Dr. Makkiah Mahdi stressed that malnutrition cases are not focused in Aslam district but it spreads more in Kushar and Khairan al-Maharaq districts of Hajjah province.

"There are many cases beside suffering from malnutrition they are also associated with other diseases, the majority of patients suffer from brain hemorrhage or what is known medically as "SEPRAL PLASI" save for meningitis, seborrhea fever and malaria," said Dr. Makkiah Mahdi.

She noted to the emergence of more new cases with the disease of malnutrition immediately after birth.

"We have received during this month 6 cases of malnutrition after childbirth immediately, one of which died last week," said Mahdi.

Mahdi clarified that the baby post birth normal weight is 3 Kgs, though the received malnutrition cases weigh 2Kgms or less.

She stressed that the post treatment of malnutrition cases is the most challenging factor that the health sector faces, pointing out that the deterioration of the standard of living of citizens, especially after the outbreak of war is a real challenge that threatens a "setback" of many cases addressed by malnutrition.

Dr. Mahdi stressed on providing a proper health environment at the populated areas.

At the end of 2018, Yemen remains the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with nearly 22.2 million people - 75 per cent ofthe population - in need of humanitarian assistance. Preliminary results of a Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) Food Security Analysis indicates that more than 20 million Yemenis – two thirds ofthe population – are now food insecure. Ten million ofthem are found to be severely food insecure – more than twice the number of four years ago. In addition, more than half the districts across the country have slipped into “emergency” conditions – nearly 60 per cent more than in 2017.

By December 2018 , UNFPA's response in Yemen reached nearly a million vulnerable women and girls with reproductive health and protection services; significantly expanding its coverage and size of humanitarian operations, resulting in an increase of 77% in the number of health facilities supported by UNFPA (133 in 2017 to 235 in 2018); and increasing the availability of protection services by more than four times that in 2017. UNFPA raised $34.9 million of the $44.5 million required towards the Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan in 2018 (82 per cent of the requirement).

24M people in need; 3.9M displaced in the last three years; 81% of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) displaced for more than one year; 1M IDP returnees; 1.2M IDPs given in-kind or cash assistance in 2018

Around 400,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are living in 1,200 hosting sites identified by the Cluster working on Shelter and Camp Coordination / Camp Management (CCCM), marking a huge swell in the population living in such sites. A Shelter-CCCM Cluster map, published this month, shows 641 collective centres and 587 spontaneous settlements country-wide, hosting 80,000 households.

Released, she returned to the capital Sana'a, where the huthi arrested her for "collaboration with the enemy" .

Together with his father, Matir al-Omeissy, and two neighbors, Saaed al-Ruwaished and Ahmed Bawazeer, he suffered torture. In the first instance the father was sentenced to 15 years, she and the other two defendants to death .

The first instance trial took place without defense lawyers. Only after the verdict Asmaa was able to meet one, who appealed against the death sentence.

The final decision will arrive on February 4th .

On Asmaa also hangs a sentence of 100 lashes for "indecent acts" , to be boarded in a car with al-Ruwaished and Bawazeer.

The hope is that if the sentences are not canceled, Asmaa and the other three prisoners may return to the prisoner exchange agreed on December 13 in Sweden as part of the UN peace negotiations.

Houthis holds a shipment of medicines belonging to the dialysis center in Ibb

The Houthi authorities in Ibb province have detained a shipment of medicines intended for kidney failure patients in the province.

According to medical sources, the customs post developed by the Houthi group in the Maytam area on the eastern port of the city has detained a consignment of medicines for patients with kidney failure, despite the official authorization of the cargo's passage facilities.

According to the sources, the shipment contains hundreds of medical supplies for patients with kidney failure provided by the National Drug Supply Programme, and the management of the Thawra hospital and the dialysis center are still making great efforts to allow the shipment of dialysis materials.

Six abductees died under torture in Houthi jails, and "36" new kidnappings since Sweden's agreement

The Association of Mothers of abductees has said it has monitored the deaths of six abductees under torture in Houthi prisons since the signing of the Sweden agreement last month.

In a statement released Monday morning at the end of a protest organized by the association before the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Sana'a, the Association of Mothers of Abductees denounced the continued violations against the kidnapped and forcibly hidden in the prisons of the al-Houthi group.

According to the association, al-Houthi has abducted 36 citizens in its areas of control since the signing of the last agreement, which included the approval of the release of abductees and prisoners from both sides, and noted that the group continue " its comic trials against the kidnapped, prevent visits and prevent the introduction of food and drink and medicines for them, and deprive them of exposure to the sun in their prisons in Sana’a “.

According to the statement, the Houthis deliberately neglect the abductees with the spread of TB in their jails and continue to conceal scores, stressing that all these violations come without regard to the moral and legal value of the Sweden agreement.

Court in capital sentences to death 11 people for kidnapping, torturing, killing citizen

The First Criminal Court in the capital Sanaa on Monday sentenced 11 people to death for the kidnapping, torture and killing of the victim Louay Seif.

The Criminal Prosecution had charged 20 people with involvement in kidnapping, killing and inciting against the victim, Louay Mohammed Abdo Mohammed Seif and his father, and assaulting the security forces of the district of Al-Rouna, Taiz.

A child sells bananas was killed during the funeral of Houthis in Mekhlaf- Taiz

A child selling bananas was killed Sunday after a random shooting of militants loyal to al-Houthi group in Al-Mekhlaf area of Sharab al-Salam district in the southwest of Taiz province.

A local source told Al-Masdar online that the child banana vendor Iyad Fahad was killed after he was shot during the shooting by Houthi gunmen, to celebrate the arrival of their Martyrs convoy to Beni Aoun market.

Activists on social media shared photos of a woman brutally tortured in prisons of Al-Houthi militias. This woman, who preferred to remain anonymous, published on a friend’s account on tweeter photos showing parts of her body burnet with cigarette buts. Dr. Mona Al-Khawlani, a Yemeni activist and a doctor working in a Yemeni hospital, said, on behalf of one of this woman’s friends, that Al-Houthis practice brutal torture over women and photograph them naked in addition to forcing them on confessing false charges, including prostitution to blackmail them to work for Al-Houthis in Sanaa.

The writer and activist Amer al-Saidi, a loyal supporter of the battles in Hajjah, claimed that the militias were al-Houthi and the tribes.

On the ground, the Houthis launched a violent attack, using all heavy weapons, led by Abu al-Qasim, the sons of the convicted in Amran governorate.

The attack was of three axes, and continued from midnight until sunrise on Friday, and ended with the collapse of the Houthis and their retreat.

Behind the attack more than 20 Huthi people, mostly from Saada and Amran and directorates scattered from Hajjah, and witnesses said that Huthi crew loaded with bodies transferred the dead to the market scene in the Directorate of Qafla Atar in Amran governorate.

During Friday prayers, the Houthis tried to attack the tribes from Amran by bringing in new supplies and military vehicles.

The Bani Riban tribe cuts the line in front of the new supply and forces them to return towards Amran.

A number of the neighboring tribes of the region of Abyssinia, announced their participation in the war and stand beside their brothers from the tribes of Hajjah.

Houthi mobilizes new fighters and vows to burn the region.

Militarily, Huthi excels in arms and gear while the tribes defend their personal weapons and excel in their experience in the region that is their environment and is trained to fight.

Humanely, a wave of displacement and terror, especially among women and children.

There are no medical centers or emergency facilities because of the siege of the area, which means that any wounded person is bleeding to death.

Comment by Judith Brown: I've heard this from a few sources today so I think it may be true. The Houthi movement was initially formed because sections of the population in the north felt that they had been marginalised in Saleh’s system of patronage - there were some in that area who had done better in money raising activities such as border trade and smuggling. So initially many of the areas of conflict were very local to the Saada and Hajjah region and related to inequality. No doubt these tensions still exist and it seems to me that UAE and Hadi in the south and finding it difficult to rub along together and so are factions in the north. As the war goes on new alliances form and fighting between former 'allies' becomes more common. And the ordinary civilians who just want the war to end are ignored.

Cautious calm in Hajur after violent night battles and the coalition did not bomb the Houthi sites

The Directorate of “Kasher” in the northwestern province of Hajjah is cautiously calm on Monday, after a night of fierce fighting between tribesmen and militants of the Houthi group, which resulted in the deaths of the latter.

The Al-Masdar online correspondent said that last night's battles began with the Houthis attempting to attack tribesmen from the al-Darb and Rayban areas, but the tribesmen repelled the attack, and heavy machine guns continued to be fired until morning.

A number of Houthis were killed and wounded, he added.

He noted that the Houthis tried to penetrate Hajur tribes from the south, and started firing at a number of positions in the direction of the Aflah al-Sham directorate, but the tribesmen were ready.

According to our correspondent, tribesmen continued to arrive in the area to support Hajur tribes, including gunmen who had joined the al-Houthi group earlier, but who defected from the group to support their tribe.

On the one hand, the Houthis continue to rally hundreds of their gunmen with light and heavy weapons in Amran province, in preparation for progress in the Directorate of Kasher, and end the resistance of Hajur tribes, one of the fiercest tribes in Yemen.

Our correspondent denied that coalition fighters had raided al-Houthi positions in the vicinity of Kasher Directorate since the tension between the two sides began, contrary to al-Arabiya, which earlier reported that the coalition had raided the Houthi positions.

He said that during the past few hours the Houthis had launched artillery shelling of the Al-Obaisa area, which could herald a major attack on the Houthis in the coming hours if the al-Houthi siege on the Directorate continues.

The Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen have looted millions of rials allocated for health centers' personnel in Houthi-held regions, a source in the Ministry of Health and Population in Sanaa has revealed. The source, who preferred to remain anonymous, said some influential individuals in the ministry received huge amounts of money originally dedicated to health centers' employees. They managed to receive the funds after forging the related documents. The millions handed out to the ministry in ambiguous conditions are incentives funded by international organizations for employees of health centers in 2018. The development forced some employees to shut several centers amid suspicious silence by the ministry. The source continued that a gang of powerful individuals is trafficking medical aid provided by relief international organizations.

A rare blast in the port town of al-Mokha, controlled by the internationally recognised government of Yemen, killed at least six people and injured more on Monday, local officials told Reuters.

Once a thriving coffee exporting hub, al-Mokha is now a heavily guarded naval base for the United Arab Emirates, which is allied to the Saudi-backed government of the internationally recognised Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Local officials said the blast was thought to have been caused by a motorbike bomb and might have been carried out by al Qaeda or Islamic State.

Recently, many revolutionary slogans, harsh criticisms and sarcastic statements against the United Arab Emirates have spread across the streets of Aden to demand the state's departure, calling it occupation.

Yemeni activists used the walls to express their anger and indignation against the aggressive practices of the UAE in Aden and carried out intensive campaigns to write on the walls of houses and government institutions. Including revolutionary slogans and sarcastic statements against the UAE soldiers, demanding their departure (photos)

Unidentified gunmen attacked the military police prison in the southwestern city of Taiz on Sunday evening and killed one of the imprisoned soldiers, who was detained on issues related to the assassinations in the city.

The so-called “Southern Revolutionary Movement Council” threatened Saudi Ambassador Mohammed al-Jaber in Aden, as a result of what they described as “his provocations” against of the people of southern Provinces.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Revolutionary Council denounced the remarks made by Saudi ambassador in Aden Mohammed al-Jaber, who described her as sensational about holding the meetings of Yemeni parliament members loyal to Saudi Arabia in the city of Aden.

“These abhorrent calls are rejected and represent a blatant challenge to the blood and will of the people of the southern provinces, who reject Saudi dictates, that target the southern issue,” the statement said.

The statement stressed that the city of Aden will not be an acceptable place for any members of the so-called Parliament, and that free people from the south will not accept the orders of Kingdom Ambassador Mohammed Al Jaber at all.

It has mocked what it termed the absurd remarks of the Saudi ambassador in Aden, stressing on the fact that without the sacrifices of the sons of the southern provinces on the southern border of Saudi Arabia, Ansarullah’s fighters today would have taken control of Riyadh.

SMA News Asserts that the call for holding the Yemeni parliament sessions in the south is a call for chaos as it provokes the southern people who sacrificed thousands of martyrs to restore their state.

SMA News calls the international society to stop this ridiculous act that may lead to catastrophic consequences and assumes that the legitimacy and its supporters are responsible for the consequences of holding the parliament sessions in Aden.

SMA News also calls for all southern citizens to line up in the face of this conspiracy that targets the rightful southern cause directly and to exhaust their dream of reestablishing their state.

Well-informed sources, close to decision makers in the legitimacy government in Riyadh, indicated that arrangements are being undertaken to hold Yemeni Parliament Sessions in a hotel in Hadhramaut. Sources indicated that members of Yemeni parliament were directed to go to Hadhramaut individually and some of them already reached Hadhramaut.

Southern activists called for all honorable figures of the south to support their brothers in Hadhramaut in refusing this provocative act and denouncing the existence of corrupt persons and robbers on their national soil. It is noteworthy that similar arrangement were previously taken to hold the Yemeni Parliament Sessions in Aden and they failed.

This morning at Shibam city, Wadi Hadhramaut : Residents wake up to find Al Qaeda flag flying in front of the city gates. Big bag suspected of being a bomb. Still waiting for army bomb disposal experts to arrive (photo)

The Association of Mothers of Abductees, a group run by Yemeni women who advocate for their arrested or disappeared civilian relatives, demanded to know the fate of their children, some of whom have been missing for more than two years.

The women said in a statement in the port city of Aden on Sunday that despite orders from the government that some of the detainees would be released, some 86 other detainees had staged a month-long hunger strike at the Bir Ahmed prison over their detention.

"We call on the government, the minister of the interior and the Attorney-General to reveal the fate of the dozens of missing prisoners and to uncover their secret places of detention," the statement read.

Pictures of the torture of a young man showing the humiliation against the sons of Yemeni southern provinces

The crimes committed by the UAE forces in southern Yemen, that the UAE forces and its paid fighters countenus torture and liquidation operations in prisons and detention centers, which includes thousands of detainees against them.

Recent photos showed the extent of humiliation and torture of the people of the southern provinces by Saudi-led coalition, backed by the US, paid fighters.

The young man Fadi al-Hajili was kidnapped by a soldier in the so-called presidential protection and then proceeded to assault him along with others with a sharp baton that mutilated his head.

Thousands of citizens in the south are subjected to humiliation and torture by the UAE forces and their paid fighters, and this is only one of hundreds of crimes against Yemenis . Secret documents revealed that as many as 23 Yemeni detainees had been executed in secret prisons run by the UAE in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, according to a Qatari newspaper, Al-Khaleej Online.

In a letter sent by detainees at Bir Ahmed Prison to Hadi’s Interior Minister Ahmed Al-Maisari said the prisoners had been killed in Shallal, Abu Al-Yamamah, Saleh Al-Sayyid, Yasran, Bir Ahmed Al-Qadim and Mansoura prisons.

In another hand-written document, the detainees also identified 23 missing persons in these prisons (photo)

Yemeni politicians, journalists and activists have carried out a campaign demanding the security authorities of Aden to disclose the fate of Zakareya Qasim and all other enforcedly disappeared persons.

Activists arranged a protest today, Sunday, in front of the Interior Minister’s house Ahmed al-Maysari, asking for immediately release Qassim and all other forcibly disappeared persons.

A leader of the General People’s Congress in Aden Yazan Sultan Naji said, during his participation in the protest, that Aden’s security authorities behaved exactly as militias when they arrested Qasim from his house and forcibly disappeared him.

At the session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva last Friday, Deputy Interior Minister Ali Nasser Lakhsa’a raised a wave of outrage among the families and parents of those arrested and forcibly hidden in the southern city of Aden, the interim capital.

Denouncing the statements, the Association of Mothers of the abducted people on Sunday staged a vigil in front of the home of Interior Minister Ahmed al-Maysari, and the participants called on the Interior Ministry to disclose the fate of their abducted and forcibly hidden relatives.

The protesters rejected statements made at the regular review session, stating that all prisons in the governorates under the control of the Yemeni government are official prisons under the supervision of the prosecution.

"Release my father," the signs says. This is the son of Zakarya Qassim, a local council member & humanitarian activist who was abducted & forcibly disappeared by security forces in Aden exactly a year ago with no due process or any info about his whereabouts (photo)

During the continuous popular rejection of the Saudi presence in the territory of al-Mahra , Riyadh is expanding its control of al-Mohra province with the complicity of Hadi’s government, where the Saudi forces in al-Mohra province continued today to establish military barracks in a number of the directorate’s districts.

The sit-in committee of al-Mohra’s people said in a statement that the Saudi forces had established military barracks in several positions and places in the districts of al-Mahra province and near the land crossings.

The Committee of Organizing the sit-in of al-Mohra people renewed its peaceful rejection of any developments , points or camps on the territory of al-Mohra and its directorates and near the land ports or on the beaches of the sea in the province.

The Committee stressed that these provocative actions that have done by Saudi forces and their militias made the Committee continue to demand the people’s rights peacefully as what the Constitution and the Yemeni law guaranteed them .

Griffith meets Al-Houthi and the latter confirms his group's commitment to the Sweden agreement

The UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, met with al-Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi on Monday amid his visit to the capital, Sanaa, which arrived on Wednesday morning.

"We are committed to the Stockholm agreement, criticizing the other party for its intransigence and escaping the implementation of the Agreement and putting obstacles in the way of its implementation in advance of a number of points that prove it," according to a press release from the group's spokesperson Mohamed Abdel Salam.

"Abdulmalik pointed out that the prisoners ' file faces difficulties and obstacles that demonstrate the lack of seriousness that has become clear by the other side, and we are ready to hand over the sick Saudi prisoner who ignored the Saudi regime's critical health situation."

The UN envoy said he would move on his part in the coming days with serious steps regarding the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement on the Hodeidah, the exchange of prisoners and the work to reach an agreement on the economic side, Abdul salam said.

Sayyed Abdulmalik met, on Monday, with the UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffith. During the meeting, Sayyed Abdulmalik stressed the commitment to the Stockholm agreement, while criticizing Riyadh's intransigence. During his meeting with the United Nations envoy ,Sayyed Abdulmalik criticized the arbitrary measures taken by the countries of aggression to maintain the comprehensive siege on the whole country and to carry out further unjust measures targeting all citizens.

He also criticized the continued closure of the Sana'a International Airport with the presence of humanitarian cases such as incurable diseases and so on, which requires travel abroad, such as students, traders and the disabled and restrict the movement of citizens in addition to procrastination in the serious move to neutralize the economy. Sayyed Abdulmalik pointed out to the difficulties faced by the Riyadh party in speeding up the implementation of the agreement on the file of the prisoners in exchange for the readiness of the national delegation to implement the agreement that has been signed.

The Saudi-led coalition forces are not after cease-fire, said the president of Supreme Political Council of Yemen on Tuesday, reported a Yemeni news media.

The decision to stop the war is not up to the Saudi allies; it is up to Saudi Arabia, said Mahdi al-Mashat in a meeting with Martin Griffiths, the UN special envoy to Yemen, according to Almasirah. Taking the ongoing attacks and siege into consideration, the process of Sweden Agreement and the humanitarian conditions of the country were also discussed in the meeting.

UN envoy to Yemen,Martin Griifiths, arrived now at the airport of Sanaa. The second visit in a week to Houthi officials. The man keeps shuttling back and forth between Sanaa, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi in an attempt to rescue Sweden deal for building confidence, for peace talks! (photo)

Despite setbacks, ‘political will’ to end Yemen war stronger than ever: top UN envoy

The ceasefire in Yemen’s crucial port city of Hudaydah is “generally holding” and deadlines have had to be extended, but the UN’s Special Envoy said on Monday that “more than any time in the past” the political will remains to end years of conflict that has left millions on the brink of starvation.

Martin Griffiths, said in a newspaper interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, and in a series of tweets reflecting his remarks, that the “biggest challenge is not to fail the people of Yemen” as the Government forces and their coalition backers, attempt to secure the first stages of a tentative peace deal with rebel Houthi leaders, that was inked in Sweden last December, and brokered by the UN.

Mr. Griffiths said that a deadline set for the withdrawal of Houthi fighters in Hudaydah, the crucial port that carries the vast majority of life-saving aid and goods into the country, had been delayed, and said that planned prisoner exchange talks, were still a work in progress.

He also confirmed that the retired Dutch General Patrick Cammaert, who has been leading an advance UN mission tasked with overseeing the ceasefire deal, and talks between Government and Houthi negotiators who are part of the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC), was stepping down. He denied that any disagreements had resulted in his resignation.

“Our meetings with all the parties were very constructive last week. General Cammaert’s plan was to stay in Yemen for a rather short period of time, to activate the RCC and lay the ground for establishing the Hodeidah mission,” he added.

The Special Envoy said that it was “important not to lose sight of the big picture necessary to resolve the conflict in Yemen. A framework that will draw a road map towards a political agreement will provide us with a basis for the end game; that is the political solution for the conflict there.”

He added that “we have seen the two parties demonstrate remarkable political will, first to reach a ceasefire agreement, and then to abide by it. What we need to see now is the implementation of the provisions of the agreement, fully and rapidly.”

He acknowledged that “we have seen the timelines for implementation extended, both in Hudaydah, and the prisoner exchange agreement. Such changes in timelines are expected. The initial timelines were rather ambitious. We are dealing with a complex situation on the ground.”

He “categorically rejected” a call from the Saudi-led coalition which is backing Yemeni Government to declare the ceasefire over or apportion blame to one party, for attempting to nullify the hard-won Stockholm agreement.

“We are planning to convene the next round of political consultations soon,” he told the newspaper.

Griffiths to Asharq Al-Awsat: No Element of Truth to Reports of Disagreements with Cammaert

Griffiths: All the issues you have mentioned. We are working to ensure that tangible progress is achieved in all these issues. There is a window of opportunity that was opened for Yemen in Sweden, and it is important to seize this opportunity, and to capitalize on the momentum we have seen during and after Sweden. That momentum is still there, even if we have seen the timelines for implementation extended, both in Hodediah and with regard to the prisoner exchange agreement. Yet such changes in timelines are expected, in light of the facts that: 1-the timelines were rather ambitious; and 2-we are dealing with a complex situation on the ground. What is important to me is that both parties continue to demonstrate political will in abiding by the Stockholm Agreement, and both parties are constructively and seriously engaged for the full implementation of the Agreement. What is important now is to stay the course, and to continue working with the two parties until we see the full implementation of the Stockholm Agreement.

Houthis to Face International Pressure for Dodging Implementation of Stockholm Agreement

United Nation Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths will kickstart the new round of peace efforts in the region in Sanaa, where he is scheduled to advise Houthi leaders against breaking the UN-brokered Stockholm agreement, the latest breakthrough in long-stalled Yemeni peace talks.

This will be the Griffiths’ third visit to Sanaa this month, in an effort aimed at convincing Houthis to agree to fully hand over the key port city of Hodeidah, as stipulated by the Stockholm agreement. Retreating and turning over the control of the strategic city comes as part of confidence-building measures between Yemeni warring parties.

A Yemeni government negotiator warned of the failure of the Redeployment Agreement in Hodeidah, which could threaten Sweden consultations. Head of Yemeni government delegation in prisoner release committee, Hadi Heij, indicated that Houthis continue to hinder local institutions from performing their duties. Heij predicts that Stockholm consultations will fail, if the UN doesn’t address Houthi militias methods in impeding the implementation of this agreement. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, the negotiator called on the UN to take a serious stance towards the Houthi militia. He also called on the Houthis to implement the agreement more effectively and seriously, especially the prisoners’ swap deal.

Al-Yamani says the UN secretary general promised that Houthis will withdraw from Hodeidah

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Gutierrez has promised that the militants of Houthi group will withdraw from the city and ports of Hodeidah, in the application of the Stockholm agreement, Foreign Minister Khalid al-Yamani said Sunday.

"During the Saturday meeting, the UN Secretary-General promised not to let the Yemeni people who have a special relationship with him since he was a High Commissioner for Refugees," he said in a tweet posted on his Twitter account.

"The Hodeidah agreement will be implemented, and the Houthis will leave the city and ports as a first step towards achieving peace in Yemen," Gutierrez said.

The head of a UN team monitoring the UN-backed cease-fire in Yemen's Hodeidah arrives on Saturday in the rebel-held capital Sanaa to resume his mission, Houthi-controlled Saba news agency reported.

Patrick Cammaert, a retired Dutch general, leads a joint committee from both Yemeni rival forces, namely the Saudi-backed government and the Iranian-allied Houthi rebels, overseeing the implementation of the cease-fire in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.

Cammaert returned to Yemen after a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, where he was accompanied by the United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths to meet the Yemeni government officials in Riyadh, including President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

UN Office of the SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict: Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Children and Armed Conflict in Riyadh

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC), Ms. Virginia Gamba, completed a day and a half visit to Riyadh to discuss protection concerns and explore avenues to strengthen the measures established by parties to conflict to end and prevent grave violations against children in Yemen. This is the first visit of the highest UN advocate for the protection of conflict affected children to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Special Representative added that she will continue to work with all listed parties to conflict to ensure that children in Yemen and in other conflict situations are provided with the best possible protection.

Saudi Arabia is seeking to attract investments worth up to 1.6 trillion riyals ($425 billion) in the next 10 years as it launches the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program on Monday aimed at developing new infrastructure.

Speaking during a press conference this past Saturday, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told reporters in Riyadh that the program aims to link between the industry, mining, energy and logistics sectors as the kingdom bids to develop infrastructure and industry across the country.

“The success of any industrial country lays in its infrastructure and logistics sector. This includes infrastructure of highways and railways, ports, airports, and free economic zones. Smart logistics networks will allow these sectors to be linked both internally and externally with global economies,” al-Falih told reports on Saturday.

Saudi Aramco is pushing for a top credit rating ahead of its first international bond sale, but Saudi Arabia’s sluggish economy may curb the state-owned oil firm’s ambitions.

Aramco intends to issue its first U.S. dollar-denominated bonds, expected to be at least $10 billion, in the second quarter to help finance the acquisition of a stake in SABIC, the world’s fourth-largest petrochemicals make

But as the old year gave way to the new, the desert kingdom could count at least one success: the joint naval maneuvers known as Red Wave 1.

These exercises, conducted in the Red Sea by Saudi Arabia and six other countries, were the first tangible product of a new Saudi-led alliance designed to encourage regional cooperation around the sea – and project Saudi power into the Horn of Africa.

Though they garnered little attention, the military maneuvers were the kingdom's latest bid at establishing its dominance in a region – and a body of water – increasingly fractured by regional rivalries.

Working in concert with the United Arab Emirates, it has joined the scramble for influence in Africa, where the two Persian Gulf partners have built multiple military bases, portents of how they intend to project power in the future.

Those considerations have become more urgent as Saudi Arabia's rivals – Iran, Turkey and Qatar, not to mention global powers such as China – have engineered their own footholds in countries ringing the Red Sea and especially in the Horn of Africa region.

Saudi Arabia's then-foreign minister, Adel Jubeir, said as much during the initial announcement last month of the Red Sea alliance with Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti and Yemen.

"The more cooperation and coordination that you have among the countries of this region, the less negative outside influence will be on this region," said Jubeir, without naming the source of this outside influence.

"This is part of the kingdom's efforts to protect its interests and those of its neighbors and ... to stabilize the region that we live in and to try to create synergies between the various countries."

As it stands now, the alliance does not include Eritrea, with its approximately 715 miles of Red Sea coastline, or Ethiopia, which, though landlocked, is the Horn of Africa's economic heavyweight. (Both are expected to join future exercises.)

But in recent years, the Red Sea, and especially the coast off the Horn, has become a chessboard for gulf states' newfound assertiveness.

Their "ATM diplomacy," buttressed by billions in petrodollars, has only intensified in the face of flaring tensions in the region. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates fear that turmoil from adversaries Iran, Qatar and Turkey could clog the Strait of Hormuz, their top conduit for most of their exports.

Another concern is the war in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition fights – with U.S. support – against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

Meanwhile, both blocs – the Saudi-Emirati alliance and its adversaries – have played a game of geopolitical checkers with the Horn of Africa's Red Sea ports – By NABIH BULOS

An ambitious plan has been set out to encourage people to come to the Arab nation, despite widespread international criticism of its handling of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi

Saudi Arabia is reportedly set to stage a Spanish style bull run and host big names like Jay-Z in a bid to attract more visitors.

The Arab country wants to establish itself as a destination for entertainment, despite widespread international criticism for, among other things, its handling of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The ambitious plans, from the General Entertainment Authority chief Turki al-Sheikh, want to generate billions in revenue.

They also hope to include a wax works museum, video game tournaments, an NBA game and Disney musicals like The Lion King.

Saudi Arabia has freed Saudi-Ethiopian businessman Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi more than 14 months after he was detained in a crackdown on corruption, the latest in a flurry of releases as the kingdom faces intense scrutiny over its human rights record.

Amoudi’s release follows that of several other businessmen last week and comes after the kingdom suffered a global backlash over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the reported torture of women activists.

Basma Khalifa, 29, returned to her birth place to see if she could make a life there. But one wrong move means she might never be able to return

In October 2018 I was asked to leave Saudi Arabia, the country of my birth, and a place where I had thought I might be able to build a new life. I was overheard discussing an article about female activists who had been detained in Saudi Arabia, while I was filming a BBC documentary about my attempt to see if I could settle there.

I had to leave the country immediately and was told that my behaviour apparently “criticised the kingdom”.

In that moment, the only thing I felt was shock. All I’d done was read an article - at most I thought I’d be reprimanded and told not to speak any further about the activists who campaigned for women to be given the right to drive.

Then the worry and the fear set in. I started to doubt myself; maybe I had done something truly terrible. It all happened so quickly, I had no time to think.

If I’d dared to stay, they could have cancelled my visa. I booked a flight to Heathrow and arrived home the same day.

She Wanted to Drive, So Saudi Arabia’s Ruler Imprisoned and Tortured Her

The U.S. should pressure Saudis to respect the human rights of outspoken women.

Remember this name: Loujain (pronounced Loo-JAYNE) al-Hathloul. She is 29 years old and a courageous advocate for gender equality — so she is in a Saudi Arabian prison, and reportedly our Saudi allies have tortured her, even waterboarded her.

Still, we can’t bring him [Khashoggi] back. So let’s direct equal attention to those still alive — like Hathloul, along with nine other women’s rights activists who are also in custody, including some who say they have endured torture.

Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Jared Kushner bet big on the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, but they were bamboozled. M.B.S. isn’t a great reformer, and he isn’t coming clean about Khashoggi’s murder.

Nor is he releasing Hathloul, who, along with others, had peacefully and persistently campaigned for years to allow women the right to drive.

Saudi politics are murky, but there are whispers that the crown prince will not necessarily be elevated to king on the death of his father. Yet Trump, Pompeo and Kushner are acting as M.B.S.’s protectors and backers — so the world could be stuck with M.B.S. as a destabilizing and oppressive ruler for the next half century – by Nicholas Kristof

Female activists were forced to kiss each other while their interrogators watched, according to Amnesty International

Shocking new reports have emerged regarding the treatment of women’s right activists being held in secret Saudi prisons. Amnesty International in a report on Friday released fresh details on female prisoners in the Kingdom after it previously accused Riyadh of subjecting women to beatings and torture.

“A total of ten human rights defenders were tortured, sexually abused, and subjected to other forms of ill-treatment during their first three months of detention, when they were held in an informal detention facility in an unknown location,” the report stated.

One woman was told that all her family members had died and was made to believe this lie for a month. Other female activists were forced to kiss each other while their interrogators watched, in addition to being sexually assaulted, waterboarded and flogged “so hard that they could not stand.”

Saudi authorities should immediately allow independent international monitors to enter Saudi Arabia and meet with detainees, including those who have alleged torture, Human Rights Watch said today. The detainees should include the prominent princes and business leaders held as part of a so-called corruption probe, and the prominent women’s rights advocates detained since May 2018.

Media outlets have reported that Saudi authorities opened two investigations into the torture allegations by women’s rights advocates, one by Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Commission, a government agency, and one by Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor, which reports directly to the royal court. Neither agency has the independence necessary to conduct a credible, transparent investigation that would hold those responsible for torture accountable.

“Saudi Arabia’s internal investigations have little chance of getting at the truth of the treatment of detainees, including prominent citizens, or of holding anyone responsible for crimes accountable,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “If Saudi Arabia truly wants to get to the bottom of what happened and hold abusers accountable, it needs to allow independent access to these detainees.”

cp8a Jamal Khashoggi

(A P)

Khashoggi inquiry has sought access to Saudi consulate, kingdom

A U.N. human rights investigator leading an international inquiry into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said on Saturday she had made a request to have access to the crime scene in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul and to visit the kingdom.

Agnes Callamard, U.N. special rapporteur on executions, who begins a week-long mission to Turkey at government invitation on Monday, said she had not yet had a reply from Saudi authorities.

On Thursday, she said the three-member legal and forensic panel would seek to establish “states’ and individuals’ responsibilities” for the killing.

“I conceive of this inquiry to be a necessary step, among a number of others, toward crucial truth telling about and formal accountability for the gruesome killing of Mr. Khashoggi,” Callamard said.

Callamard said she had requested information from other authorities, including in the United States.

Experts who uncovered Khashoggi surveillance before journalist's murder 'targeted by international spies'

Undercover agents met with Citizen Lab employees to ask about research on Israeli spy software company, according to investigation

The researchers who reported that Israeli software was used to spy on Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi‘s inner circle before his death are being targeted by international undercover operatives, an investigation by the Associated Press has revealed.

Twice in the past two months, men masquerading as socially conscious investors have lured members of the Citizen Lab internet watchdog group to meetings at luxury hotels to quiz them for hours about their work exposing Israeli surveillance and the details of their personal lives.

In both cases, the researchers believe they were secretly recorded. Citizen Lab director Ron Deibert described the stunts as a new low.

House Democrats are renewing their push to cut off U.S. involvement in Yemen’s bloody civil war, teeing up a direct challenge to President Donald Trump’s foreign-policy agenda.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told POLITICO on Monday that he planned to reintroduce a War Powers resolution in the coming days, and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), indicated that his panel would make the issue a top priority.

“I’m confident with the support of the Democratic leadership that we’re going to get a vote in February in the House on the War Powers resolution, and with Sen. Sanders’ leadership that it’s going to pass the Senate,” Khanna told POLITICO, referring to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). “And when it does it will be the first time in the history of our country that a War Powers resolution would have passed both the House and the Senate to stop war. It’s long overdue, and this is going to do an enormous amount to end the suffering in Yemen.”

“Our military intervention overseas is unauthorized and needs to stop,” Khanna said. “And we need to stop support for the coalition and their bombing of Yemen.”

The War Powers resolution would overwhelmingly pass the House, and proponents are optimistic that it could clear the Senate once again.

A spokesman for Sanders said both the Vermont senator and Khanna plan to re-introduce the joint resolution later this week.

(B P)

Mattis departure risks US policy void as Yemen pact falls apart

Just hours before the United Nations struck a Yemen cease-fire deal last month, then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis made a whirlwind series of calls to Arab leaders to help clinch a pact that he’d privately and publicly pressed for months.

His successor plans to take a less direct role in trying to settle the conflict.

As renewed clashes between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthi rebels threaten to wipe out the fragile truce in the key port city of Hodeidah, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has deputized John Rood, the department’s No. 3 official, to engage with the UN on Yemen, a senior defense official told Al-Monitor.

Mattis had remained focused on Yemen up until his last days at the Pentagon, helping to convince Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Emirati Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed to concede to UN demands to stop the fighting, sources familiar with the talks say.

Now some experts worry that Shanahan and Rood, both former defense industry executives, lack the contacts and credibility with Arab allies needed to salvage the deal as Yemen’s warring parties refuse to pull their troops out of Hodeidah. While Shanahan built his career before the Department of Defense at Boeing, Rood spent much of his 20-year government career focused on missile defense and nonproliferation.

“This is exactly the moment where you need another pylon of diplomatic effort from the US,” said Barbara Leaf, the US ambassador to the United Arab Emirates during the Barack Obama administration. “I’m very concerned that Mattis’ departure leaves a void in that sense.”

My comment: There is no reason to make Mattis a hero of peace. Nevertheless, his successor might-be even worse.

(A P)

Congress’ Middle East panels brace for new partisan era

Congress recently finalized the membership rosters for the major Middle East policymaking committees. Emboldened by their midterm election victory, House Democrats are eager to capitalize on the bipartisan heat against Saudi Arabia over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen. Meanwhile, the politics surrounding Israel and Palestine have become increasingly acrimonious as Republicans seek to spotlight freshmen House members who support the pro-Palestinian boycott, divestment and sanctions movement while advancing anti-BDS legislation — a divisive issue within the Democratic caucus.

Center for American Progress says it aims to distance itself from authoritarian regimes amid questions over ‘which side our president is on’

The Center for American Progress, one of the most prominent liberal thinktanks in Washington, will no longer accept funding from the United Arab Emirates, the Guardian has learned.

The group said it is parting ways with what it views to be anti-democratic governments across the globe, seeking to distinguish itself from the authoritarian regimes with which Donald Trump’s administration has developed a close rapport.

cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain

The killing of Jamal Khashoggi and Yemen’s war have hurt Saudi Arabia’s reputation, the chairman of BAE Systems told Sky News, adding Britain as a “critical friend” could help Riyadh refocus on the development push it was making before those crises emerged.

“Saudi Arabia was a country that was developing very well under new leadership - a sense of liberalization, opening up the country, opening up to opportunities for women. All these things were being very well received,” Chairman Roger Carr told Sky News.

“Two issues damaged the position of Saudi Arabia in eyes of the world - the Khashoggi affair is one of them and also the war in Yemen.”

“What we want to see, by being a consistent and critical friend, is that Saudi Arabia, needs to return to the pathway it was on and develop in the way it was.”

cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries

(A P)

Turkey Regrets Lack of Efforts by Islamic World To Help Starving Yemen

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on Monday, expressed his regret over the failure of the Islamic countries to take effective measures to confront the famine crisis caused by the US-Saudi aggression and siege on Yemen. During the founding meeting of the Cooperation Network of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the OIC countries in Istanbul, Erdogan highlighted the tragedies in the Islamic world.

Confidence Not Complacency Regarding the Human Rights Challenges in Yemen and the UAE

The ends should not justify the means when it comes to the protection of basic human rights in Yemen and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Sever challenges to the peace and stability of these regions along with overarching transnational terrorism threats have incentivized the erosion of human rights by the respective governments. These challenges are well-documented in press reporting, and in the lived experiences of two participants in my recent discussions at the American Society of International Law.

Matthew Hedges, a 31-year-old Durham University PhD student, was held in solitary confinement for seven months in the UAE after being accused of spying for the U.K. government.

Domestic laws ostensibly designed to protect the public that simultaneously provide valid reasons for the abuse of basic human rights and the degradation of human dignity cannot be ignored. Harnessing domestic judicial systems to empower such violations represents the sine quibus non of systematic human rights violations. This pattern of abuse is far too common in the region, representing the capstone of a coordinated suppression of fundamental human rights.

Sovereign nations have the absolute right to enact and enforce laws that are the best-suited to protect their citizens and defend legitimate interests. All nations enjoy these prerogatives. This legitimate duty of the state to protect the common good operates in healthy friction with the concurrent obligations to uphold human rights and the dignity of persons within the ambit of state power.

The UAE has ignored this friction in pursuit of domestic counter-terrorism efforts during the conflict in Yemen. The Saudi and the UAE-led coalition has isolated and degraded Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, while sharply curtailing the extent of Houthi/Iranian influence in Yemen. These salutary ends do not always justify the means. Documented reports of enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, erosion of basic human rights and the subversion of rights under Common Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions tell that sad tale.

These issues represent a thicket of complex legal concerns. The actions of the UAE security and proxy forces are diagnostic in documenting human rights violations. Routine denials by the UAE officials do not dispel these difficult truisms. T

We need to reconcile the gap between these legal regimes, human rights obligations and the experiences of people on the ground. The lived experience of citizens is often the best measure in an otherwise esoteric – maybe even quixotic quest for human rights – by Michael Newton

Women were nowhere to be seen as UAE Vice President and ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum (MBR) handed out medals on Sunday to a man-only group, for their contributions to "gender balance" in the Gulf state. Absent also were any hints of irony, but there was a fair measure of facepalms. "The achievements of Emirati women today reaffirm the wise vision of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan (Editor's note: a man), who believed in the importance of the role of women, and their right to work and become key partners in society," Sheikh Mohammed said during the ceremony, according to the state-run news agency WAM. The Dubai ruler then gave medals to the three men who won the UAE government's Gender Balance Index for 2018 in three categories: Best Personality Supporting Gender Balance, Best Federal Authority Supporting Gender Balance and the Best Gender Balance Initiative, according to WAM. The winning trio include the UAE's interior minister, Lt. General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who was honoured for enlisting more women into the UAE armed forces. The lack of women in the initiative aimed at empowering women was seen by social media users as a major fail, and triggered immediate ridicule by dozens of commentators that has since been picked up by the international press.

My seven-month detention in the United Arab Emirates did not happen in a vacuum.

My nightmare started at the Dubai airport.

I checked in and, after a quick coffee, my mother, who was living in Dubai at the time, walked me to border control to say goodbye.

What ensued was a seven-month ordeal, one in which I—a British academic—was kept in solitary confinement by the intelligence service of a friendly government. One in which basic demands, such as access to a lawyer, were denied. And one in which my wife and, eventually, my government had to publicly push for my release before I was finally freed.

For the next six weeks, I suffered intense and grueling daily interrogations, sometimes for 15 hours at a time. I was repeatedly threatened with physical torture, life imprisonment, and removal to an overseas military base unless I confessed to what my captors were accusing me of. I was kept practically incommunicado, able to make only two brief calls to my mother to report (falsely, under duress) that I was well. On one occasion, the interrogators even asked me to steal documents from Britain’s foreign ministry. Throughout that time, I did not speak to my wife, a lawyer, or a British diplomat, considerably worsening my mental health (I already suffered from depression and anxiety).

These kind of actions do not happen in a vacuum. Western governments’ complicity, primarily by way of silence, gives authoritarian rulers confidence in their actions – by Matthew Hedges

Comment by Judith Brown: This is very worrying for the academic world. Certainly it worries me as I have recently undertaken research into the Yemen war. I have spent time in UAE in the past but it may not be safe any longer for academics whose work UAE perceives to be against their political and military objectives.

cp13a Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage

On Saturday night, militants stormed the archaeological, manuscripts and Folklore Museum of "Bynoon" in the district of Hadda, east of Dhamar Province and looted all its archeological contents.

A source from the region told Al-Masdar online that the Houthis, under the direction of Ali Saleh al-Harbi, their security director, stormed the museum in Thawban isolation, looted all the precious artifacts and manuscripts and transported them to an unknown location.

"They confiscated the National Library of the Museum, which contains the books of Yemeni history, and removed the images of Yemen's Republican symbols from the museums and replaced them with pictures of Badr al-Din al-Houthi and his two sons, Hussein al-Houthi and Abdulmalik al-Houthi."

Baynoon Museum, founded in 1990, is one of the richest in the region, with its ancient and modern ancient civilizations, and the region is home of 3,000 years BC civilizations.

The looted antiquities are due to the historical periods of the golden ages of the Hymiar civilization, the source said.

There is nothing in history called the UAE .. International Campaign «ICBU»: The UAE looted the effects of Yemen and sells it abroad

Omani researcher and academic Mohammed Yahyai: There is nothing in history called the United Arab Emirates, although Mahlab bin Abi Safra was born after 1971, he will follow the UAE

International Campaign «ICBU»: The UAE looted the effects of Yemen and sell them abroad

The International Campaign for the Province of the UAE (ICBU) condemned the ongoing smuggling of Yemeni historical artifacts and artifacts by the UAE militias and its affiliated forces, saying that this practice is a setback to human history. Yemen is one of the oldest civilizations.

The international campaign expressed its deep regret at the ongoing theft of Yemen's history, which is no longer alien to the UAE, which was previously involved in similar cases in Egypt, Iraq and Syria, where precious pieces were sold and sold at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

According to the campaign, UAE newspapers claimed in August 2018 that Yemeni officials in the port of Aden had seized a shipment of artifacts suspected to be part of the looting of the country's heritage.

The National newspaper reported that the Houthis were the perpetrators of this and other similar operations, but soon found out that the UAE is behind the process, where reports revealed that some of the pieces reported theft was purchased by Emirati businessmen on the black market.

"Many of the pieces were sold in the United Arab Emirates, then sold again internationally in the United States and Britain," said Henry Green, spokesman for the UAE boycott campaign. "The report of the Washington Post recently confirmed that information . We call upon UNESCO to take immediate action to trace the missing pieces. We believe that the local emirate museums may soon be offering some of these pieces. We also believe that the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum will exhibit such Yemeni artifacts. "

Green revealed that the international campaign received dozens of e-mails from a Yemeni local history about vandalism and theft in local museums. E-mail messages also indicate that the pieces were valued at between $ 5,000 and $ 100,000 (film, talk, in Arabic).

cp13b Wirtschaft / Economy

(A B E)

Over the past 3 years, the voice of the #PrivateSector has been distracted, resulting in the loss of the power to mobilize & reach the economic recovery! Creating a PS platform to discuss their challenges will support a real change in taking decisions that will help Yemen.

The launching of the private sector platform is good news to ALL Yemenis...their active role in decision making means a lot including reviving competition in markets, affordable goods, lower prices, built & functioning markets, jobs, hope, life....

Despite difficulties of the internet connections in #Sanaa the Chamber of Commerce believes in the importance of this workshop & their presence proves the coming steps will help #bringingbackbusiness in #Yemen and take closer steps towards #peace.

cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism

(A T)

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released the second episode in its series intended to teach its members how intelligence agencies recruit spies on January 25. The over 98-minute-long video, titled “Demolishing of the Espionage,” features statements from AQAP emir Qasim al Raymi and senior AQAP official Khalid Batarfi. The video states that intelligence agencies target members that are not truly religious, who seek money, and who place self-advancement over the Muslim community. The video also claims that recruiters filmed acts of rape and sexual abuse in order to blackmail AQAP members into becoming spies.[3]

An official source at the Foreign Ministry in Sanaa on Sunday mocked the media campaign led by the aggression media in partnership with what he called "Riyadh hotels group" on the developments in Hodeidah province and outcomes of Sweden consultations.

The necessity of separating the south from the north in Yemen is no longer just related to southern Yemenis’ right to sovereignty as it is to the existential issue of Arab national security.

Given its war and its political deadlock, the Yemeni crisis does not look like it is breaking out of the cycle of war and its political, military and economic quagmire.

The internationalisation of the crisis is still in its early stages. Things changed after an agreement was reached in Sweden. It looks like the Houthis succeeded in trading political attrition for media exposure while the intentionally recognised government camp looked bland and insipid, repeating over and over again the expression “the three reference documents” when many things have changed that knocked out UN Security Council Resolutions 2451 and 2452.

To understand what is going on in Yemen, look at Lebanon. The contexts can hardly be separated.

The same manoeuvre is taking place in Yemen. The Houthis were dragged to the Sweden negotiations by the United States’ big stick. From the outset, however, the Houthis set specific goals that have not changed since 2015: restructure the political and power structure in Yemen in accordance with the changes that resulted from their September 21 coup.

Sana’a, Beirut, Damascus and Baghdad are Iran’s pawns on the chessboard and Iran is moving to manufacture a different face to Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. The Shia crescent seems to have adopted a more rigid stance and Sana’a will soon join in unless the risk is addressed by moving to protect Aden and its coastline all the way to al-Mahrah.

The necessity of separating the south from the north in Yemen is no longer just related to southern Yemenis’ right to sovereignty as it is to the existential issue of Arab national security.

The Arab Coalition backing Yemen’s legitimate government launched 15 air strikes against Houthi militia gatherings in the Hajjah governorate, northwest of the country on Sunday, according to Al Arabiya sources.

On Thursday, Yemen’s Hajour tribes had appealed for support from the Arab Coalition to confront an attack staged by the militias against the al-Abysa tribe of Hajour in the district of Kashar using rockets and heavy artillery.

The militias had indiscriminately shelled the villages of al-Abysa tribe with heavy artillery, according to eyewitnesses.

Remark: For this conflict look at cp5. A report from this region denies that there had been any air raids.

(A K pH)

A civilian was killed while another injured when combat jets of #US-backed #Saudi-led coalition waged an airstrike on Saada. In Habad area, Safra district combat jets launched 4 airstrikes and coalition's militias shelled areas in the city of #Hodeidah. Jan. 26 (photo)

The Arab Coalition's military aircrafts have targeted the sites and positions of the #Iran-backed #Houthi militia rebels in Kushar district in the governorate of #Hajjah, after urgent calls by Hajoor tribesmen, who are being shelled by Houthis.

Yemen's government announced on Saturday the death of eight people in a projectile attack by Houthi rebels that targeted a camp for displaced people in Yemen's northwestern province of Hajjah.

More than 27 others, mostly women and children, were wounded in the rebel attack, government-run Saba news agency reported, citing an unnamed local source.

It said the injured were transported to a al-Tiwal hospital in Saudi border city of Jizan.

The camp has been recently established for families from Shalilah and Bani al-Haddad village after they fled daily battles between the government forces and Houthi rebels in the Yemeni border district of Harad.

The displaced camp is located near Harad in a desert area controlled by the government forces, which also control the northern part of Harad, just a few kilometres away from Jizan. While the southern part of Harad is under the Houthis' control.

At least eight civilians are killed and 30 wounded in an IDP centre in Haradh

“This is shocking,” said Ms. Lise Grande, Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen. “We share our deep condolences with all of the families who have been impacted by this senseless attack.”

“Any attack on a civilian site is unconscionable and a clear violation of international humanitarian law,” said Ms. Grande. “Parties to the conflict are obliged to do everything possible to protect civilians. The people who have fled their home to IDPs sites have lost so much already. An attack like this cannot be justified—ever.”

Residents of "Shalleila " and “Bani al-Haddad " A second displacement journey after their camp was bombed

Residents of the villages of "Shalleila " and "Bani Al-Haddad " are in a second displacement journey after their camp was bombed Saturday morning by Houthi militants.

Witnesses said they saw the groups of displaced people seen leaving their camp after the shelling and more than 30 dead and wounded, most of them women and children, with artillery shells fired by Houthi militants on the camp.

The displaced people on Saturday morning ran a long foot journey that spanned several kilometers towards the Saudi border, with some women and children walking around and not receiving relief aid from any side.

The source told al-Masdar online that they were stopped several kilometers away from the Yemeni-Saudi border and displaced people feared that they would be bombed again by the Houthi militias.

The Houthi militia bombed a camp for internally displaced people in Haradh district, killing nine people and wounding more than 20, some of them seriously injured (photos)

My comment: The Saudis really are the best ones to condemn civilian victims in Yemen.

(A K pH)

Several citizens injured in Saudi aggression artillery attack on Saada

Several of Yemeni citizens were injured when Saudi aggression forces fired on Saturday an artillery attack at Saada province, a security official told Yemen Press Agency. The attack residential areas of Shada district

cp18 Sonstiges / Other

(* C K P)

[Taiwan] Air force highlights secret North Yemen operations

More than 1,000 Taiwanese were sent on missions to support the Yemen Arab Republic over 10 years, following a Saudi request

A secret military mission to Yemen by the air force is commemorated with a special exhibition at the Air Force Museum that opened on Saturday, 40 years after Taiwanese troops were deployed to help North Yemen forces.

The now declassified military aid program, which the air force conducted from 1979 until 1990, began with a request from then-diplomatic ally Saudi Arabia to aid its ally, the Yemen Arab Republic, which had no ties with Taiwan, a Ministry of National Defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

North Yemen at the time was engaged in a rivalry with the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, which it fought during a brief war in 1972.

The countries in 1990 formed the Republic of Yemen, but strife returned to the region in 2017.

The air force denies ever flying any combat missions over Yemen.

In what was known as the Great Desert Program, the air force deployed more than 1,000 personnel — including pilots and ground crew — to assist and advise the North Yemeni air force, until Saudi Arabia withdrew its diplomatic recognition of Taiwan, ending the program, the official said.

In Yemen, correspondent Ana van Es came into contact with the Arab world she previously only knew from European cocktail tables

The Arab world of the cocktail bar, where men massively oppress women, that Middle East correspondent Ana van Es could never discover. So she suddenly is in the middle of it. In Yemen.

Arabia according to the cocktail table

It took more than two years, but in Yemen I suddenly found myself in the middle of it: the Arab world as we imagine it in Europe at the cocktail table. Where men on the conveyor belt suppress and harass heavily veiled women. Now you will not hear me say that the emancipation is good in the Arab world, but as roughly as we imagine it from the Dutch armchair, I have rarely encountered Middle East reporting in two years. Not in Syria. Not in Iraq. Not in Libya. In all those countries I can work without any hassle as a woman. Of course that does not mean everything, because I'm only a guest there, but I do have something. 'Iraq, Syria, Libya,' my Yemeni fixer will sigh when the night in Mokka lies behind us. "They are all secular countries. Yemen is a religious country. "

How is it for the women in Yemen itself? Just as you think you understand something about it, you, as a Western listener, appear to have been completely misled. The day before our overnight stay in Mokka I have a conversation in a coffee shop in Aden, the second city of Yemen. The war in Yemen has brought a strange prosperity as a result of a lucrative frontline economy. Aden teems with trendy coffee shops, such as Cup Coffee, where barista makes cappuccino and latte macchiato.

Child weddings

Child marriages are normal in Yemen, as I later meet with women's rights activist Leila Shahibi, who in Aden for years ran a kind of living room project for women. She talks about a mother who started to cry because she realized that marrying off her 13-year-old daughter was not such a good idea. Shahibi: 'In the countryside, 13 years is a normal age to get married. Some approach it from a religious perspective. The Prophet Muhammad himself married a young girl, so it is not wrong. We do not go into religion. That would give big problems. We approach it scientifically. Yes, the Prophet Muhammad married young. But there are texts that show that he had no fellowship until years later. " In the Yemen of the 21st century, a child marriage is directly consumed? Shahibi: "Of course."

Instructions for the imam

In Yemen, one female minister, of social affairs, is not an important portfolio in this country. No female parliamentarian. Not one of the 301 members of parliament. Women hardly play a significant role during peace talks. Even resolution 1325, which gives women rights on paper, is so sensitive that it is hardly discussed openly. Otherwise it seems as if you are trying to smuggle Western values into Yemen. How do they talk in Yemen about women's rights? Women instruct men. More precisely: the imam. The imam is asked to talk to men about 'the problems of women'.

In the break, I meet Anisha Tarboush, a businesswoman with striking eyebrows under a colored headscarf. At first glance her story seems full of hope – by Ana van Ees

Remark: This is the English translation from the Dutch original. Almost perfect.

(* B )

Keeping Yemen Alive

We shouldn’t report on a war without highlighting other components that are just as important, such as how people live during the conflict, how they cope, and their innovative, creative and resilient spirits. Let’s talk about how teachers are continuing to teach despite the fact that they haven’t received their salaries in months. Let’s talk about how artistic expression has flourished in the midst of war, how new book clubs, music videos, films, and photo exhibits have emerged. Yemenis----like others living in war zones----also create beauty amidst the ugliness. If these stories aren’t told, we lose our voice, we lose our dignity. We appear without agency.

I don’t want the memories of my Yemen to be overshadowed by media reports. I am terrified that I will forget what burning incense smelled like in a crowded room filled with laughing women and ‘oud. Or the taste of street hot potatoes with cumin and peppers. In the midst of daily deaths, my resistance is to keep the Yemen I remember alive. My resistance is to prevent my memories from being hijacked by all the blood. My resistance is to keep Yemeni culture present in everything I do and transfer its beauty to my daughter – by Atiaf Z. Alwazir i

Rest In Peace to the late contemporary Yemeni artist, Abdul Jabbar Nu'man, his story of #Yemen was in every one of his works of art, here are some of his paintings, although he’s gone he will never be forgotten (photos)

Ahmad Algohbary is in Cairo (Egypt) waiting for a visa that allows him to get to Barcelona to receive medical assistance. This freelance journalist suffers from " keratoconus ", a pathology that deforms the cornea and generates astigmatism problems.

Stories Never Told is a traveling exhibit featuring 16 artists curated by local Yemeni-American activist Hanan Ali Yahya. The exhibit visually narrates the artistic renaissance born out of Yemen’s crises. It will pilot in Detroit area in February 2019!